America’s Body Cam Laws: NPR Survey

By Laura Orr

We are a country of federal, state, and local laws (and international treaties, for that matter). So when someone asks, “What’s the Law On …,” law librarians and lawyers need to show laypeople how to Find the Law(s).

NPR has done that for you with Body Cam Laws (but, note that laws change so you will need to update this research each time you need accurate data.)

Excerpt: “It’s increasingly likely that the next time you have an encounter with a police officer, he or she will be wearing a body camera. And depending on how things go, you may be left wondering: “Can I get a copy of that video?”

There’s no single answer to that, or other pressing questions, such as whether you can tell an officer you don’t want to be recorded. In the year and a half since the Ferguson, Mo., protests, police departments have been rushing to adopt the cameras.

But when it comes to body camera policies, departments are all over the map….” [Read and listen to full NPR story.]